New Delhi, Jan 21 : Defence Minister A K Anthony today announced that the Government is taking numerous initiatives towards liberalisation and modernisation of defence inventories.

Addressing a seminar on defence standardisation here, Anthony said it is an ideal platform for all concerned players, the research and development agencies, production agencies, quality assurance agencies and the user agencies, to evolve better methods for the scientific management of defence inventories.

Anthony said the Directorate of Standardisation has been working the on standardisation and codification of defence stores towards effective logistics management by the armed forces since 1965.

He said given the size of India’s defence infrastructure, not only in terms of the number of personnel in uniform, but also in terms of the sheer number of the variety of equipment being used, standardisation provides the only answer to rationalise and effect reductions in the number of items being procured, stocked, maintained, transported and used, without degrading the operational effectiveness of the armed forces.

Lauding the Directorate of Standardisation for the commendable work it has done by setting up a database on defence inventories, Anthony said: ”We are now witnessing a movement towards Joint-Services efforts and commonality, which implies the production, use and management of defence stores, which will meet the common requirements of all Services to the extent possible.”

“As we increasingly globalise and cooperate across international borders on the development, production and procurement of defence stores and items with many countries, as the number of entities involved in defence material production and management grows rapidly, as the number of players, particularly from the private sector, increase with the introduction of the offset policy, it becomes all the more important to intensify our standardisation and codification efforts if we are to avoid getting trapped in a logistics nightmare,” he added.

“We in the defence sector are not an island unto ourselves. We need to not only link our efforts with our National standards organisation, the Bureau of Indian Standards, but also with international organisations,” Anthony said.

He said he is happy to learn that the Directorate is working towards cooperation with international organisations like the Allied Committee 135 and expects to become a member of that group soon.

He urged participants at the seminar to deliberate and evolve more effective mechanisms to ensure better synergy between technologists, suppliers and users, be they are public or private. (ANI)